Who will replace Mike Jaros?

Representative Mike Jaros who’s 34 year legislative career was capped by his inability to protect his constitutents from the rapacious Duluth School Board has called it quits. This last session may finally have burned Mike out. Immediately several notables announced their interest in replacing Mike including City Council Chair Roger Reinert and AFSCME rep Marsh Stenereson.

I wonder whether a promise to pick up Mike’s failed legislation to require a vote before continuing with the Red Plan could become an issue in that race. The legislation that Mike originally championed could still bring about a vote. Only about ten million of the $293 million in Red Ink spending will have been consumed by the time the legislature convenes in January of 2009. Since the School District is now keen on expediting their spending to prevent a new School Board from stopping the plan the public might be looking for another opportunity to throw a monkey wrench into the works.

I think any candidate who picked up that monkey wrench would find great favor with the voting public. The same thing might happen in the eastern legislative district represented by Tom Huntley an opponent of a referendum and a strong supporter of the Red Plan. Tom doesn’t mind that Duluth, Minneapolis and St. Paul voters have fewer voting rights than all other Minnesota citizens. Only citizens in Minnesota’s “Cities of the First Class” are now denied the opportunity to vote on grandiose buildng plans offered up by runaway school boards. I think there might be a serious legal issue here. More on this later.

The official source for all the blather of the eccentric Harry Welty – Duluth School Board member, off and on, since 1995. He does his best to live up to Mark Twain's assessment: "First God created the idiot. That was for practice. Then he invented the School Board."